California Angels 1970

[sharknut]

One month in and as a 9-10 record would indicate, some ups and downs. Rudy May has been out 3 weeks and will be out 2 more weeks. None of my rookies are hitting but Mickey Rivers is leading the AL in hitting at .430. My guys are getting on base, we are 1st in OBP but just 10th in runs! I am getting no pop from my 4/5/6/7 guys.

On the very bright side, I have allowed the fewest runs in the AL. Jim Merritt, who I picked up for Andy Messersmith, is 3-1 with a 1.25 ERA and George Dixon is 3-1 with a 1.53 ERA.

We are first in the AL in SB with 17 steals in 19 games. Going to try to get 162 in 162.

The owner is angry with me, I will probably have to part with May or Wynn at the deadline for budgetary reasons unless I am somehow in the hunt.

[sharknut]

A 15-13 May puts us 25-24 and in 3rd place, 6 games behind the A's. Other than pathetic attendance I can't complain at all. 5th in the AL in runs and 6th in pitching is pretty average which I will take.

Rudy May is still on rehab in AAA and Dave Cash missed much of May but everyone picked up the slack including rookie 3B Rudy Meoli who was Player of the Week the last week of May. Rivers tanked all the way down to .320 and out of the top 10.

I shopped Wynn around and didn't get anything worth even considering. 19 out of 30 games at home this month and I need to do well not only for the wins but to get more butts in seats.

[sharknut]

Well....quite a June. We went 19-11 and are now just 1 1/2 behind the A's in 2nd place. The bats were explosive all month, all 9 of our regulars have an OPS+ over 100, everyone is rowing the boat.

Wynn has vaulted into MVP awareness as he is 2nd in HR's, 2nd in RBI 5th in slugging and 5th in OPS. Mickey Rivers is back to leading the leading in hitting and Al Bumbry is up to .300 and is 31 for 34 in steals.

The team is 1st in AVG, 2nd in OPB, 2nd in offensive WAR, 4th in slugging ....and dead last in HR's. We are 1st in triple and 3rd in doubles along with being 1st in steals.

Attendance is on the rise as we ended the month on a 12-3 tear. After being as low as 5,000 early in the year we were up to 11,000 on the last day of the month. Since we are still $350,000 over budget, we need to get that number to keep rising. I did raise ticket prices 20% in the off-season which led to the low early numbers. But if we can actually be in a pennant race, it could turn out to be good move.

[sharknut]

Dammit, first 3 games of July were at the A's for 1st place and we lost 2 of 3, both on walk-off HR's in the bottom of the 9th.

[sharknut]

15-14 in July, not terrible. But the A's went 23-5.

Twenty three.......and five.

10 games back now, and on July 31 I lost Jim Wynn for the year with an ankle the same day he was names player of the month. Was leading the AL in WAR. So many injuries this sim version.

The owner gave me the, "improve the attendance or we may have to make changes in the front office" the week before I lost Wynn. I don't want to lose this job, we are up to the #3 system in baseball now, but he's all about money.

Eddie Murray #6 prospect
Ed Kurpiel #15 prospect
Roy Howell #41 prospect
Craig Casek #64 prospect
Kevin Kobel #67 prospect
Dan Briggs #79 prospect

[sharknut]

Well that was an interesting August

15-10 while the A's crashed to earth going 11-15, so we are only 5 1/2 back with 35 games left and 6 games to play against the A's. We've got a shot.

Wynn is out a few more weeks, but we will get him back with 2 weeks to go. I'll slot him back in at DH and hope we go 4-2 or 5-1 against the A's so we can make this a fun last few weeks.

4th in runs scored and runs allowed and we have the 4th best record in the AL. Seems like we are where we should be. Bumbry is now 54 for 62 in steals, leads the league by a mile. He also leads in runs and triples. He's a real catalyst.

Our young 3b and C are developing well, 22 yr old Meoli at 3rd is .285/.390/.412 and 22 year old catcher Marquez is .274/.373/.404. I am trying to get players that can draw walks and run some. Marquez and Meoli each have a dozen steals adding to their value.

Two games in Chicago before coming home for 4 against the A's. We need to start drawing. We are slowing closing the revenue gap from last year and hopefully this A's series can be a success on and off the field.

[sharknut]

....we took the last two in Chicago and the A's lost two to the Royals, so we are now 3 1/2 back and have 4 at home against Oakland.

[Pelican]

Updates?

[sharknut]

Was about as evenly matched as could be.

A's blew a 3-run lead in the 8th in game 1, we blew a 7-3 lead in game 2. We then won a routine 4-1 game and then dropped a 4-3 game when Bumbry struck out with the bases loaded and 2 out in the 9th.

Still 3 1/2 back, but we do have 25 to play. Wynn still shows out for 2 weeks so best case we will get him back with 9 games to go now.

[sharknut]

I picked up 31-year old Mel Stottlemyre in July from Cincinnati in exchange for a reliever. He had a rough last year and a half and was good for us as a swingman. He just threw a 1-hitter and beat KC 1-0 on a walk-off by Robert Cole.

4 back with 18 to go, but the bad news is Wynn suffered a setback and will not be back this year. So this is who I've got to make up 4 games.

[sharknut]

We ended up 8 back even thought we went 17-14 in September. We lost several hundred thousand dollars this year and I am sure the owner will be pissed.

This was the closest division, amazingly enough. The Yankees, Mets and Astros ran away with the other divisions, they won by an average of 17 games each.

Lee May won the Triple Crown in the AL for the Yankees. He hit .324 with 38 HR's and 138 RBI's. Cesar Cedeno led the NL in hitting, Bobby Bonds in HR's and Rico Carty in RBI's.

Will have a full review after the playoffs....going to be a Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees. Yankees with an easy 4-1 series win. Thurmon Munson won the MVP hitting .350.

[sharknut]

Bright side, the owner was happy with the results.

Dark side, he cut the budget further. I have to cut about 20% of total payroll. This should be a fun exercise.

[sharknut]

I need to cut about $550,000, and I got a bit of a gift. Joe Torre asked for a trade so I dealt Jim Merritt and had the Braves retain salary on Torre next year, so I pick up an upgrade at 1B (1 of the owners goals for 1974) and cut $50,000 in payroll. Fan interest went up 10% to 63, so that will make us money in ticket sales as well.

I can't deal my two highest paid players, Fregosi or Wynn. They are too popular locally and I need to keep fan interest as high as I can. My best pitcher and 3rd highest paid player, Rudy May, is a legit #2 and not far from being a #1. I really can't deal him either. George Dixon got some Cy Young votes as well and he's cheap and only 26. So he stays.

Will sit and wait to see if other players ask for a trade and perhaps deal a contract away. I could also deal a few AAAA players making the minimum for low-rated prospects as an easy way to save another $100,000 or so.

[sharknut]

A very active off-season saw over a half-dozen deals to shed salary and then a sudden budget increase where I actually have about $500,000 to play with now.

I had picked up a few veterans who had bad seasons and could get them in cost savings moves like pitchers Wilbur Wood, Tom Walker and John Hiller in those moves that shed about $200,000 but also most of our depth. When I could suddenly add some salary, I dealt a AAA outfielder who has hit over .300 every year but isn't a top 4 outfield prospect for me for a 25 year old pitcher who has struck out 293 in 272 big league innings over a few years of being a swingman, William Sheets.

I am very excited for this coming year with the above additions and earlier acquiring Joe Torre. My fan interest has gone from 53 to 69 and when combined with a 10% ticket price drop, our season tickets are up 40% and we still have a few months before opening day. If projections are correct our revenue would be up 80% this year. That would be great timing with free agency coming up in a few years and top minor league top prospects are starting to reach AAA now. I can see all 3 of my OF that just got to AAA being good major leaguers in 2-3 years. Then at AA I have my top 3 prospects, Eddie Murray (#5 in baseball), Ed Kurpiel (#13) and Roy Howell (#19).

In the amateur draft, the top 10 were:

1)Dale Murphy-Rangers
2)Lance Parrish-Twins (Twins went from 4 straight WS to the 2nd pick in 2 years)
3)Roy Smalley-Dodgers
4)Lonnie Smith-Cubs
5)Terry Puhl-Expos
6)Willie Wilson-White Sox
7)Steve Henderson-Pirates
8)Mark Luckich-Padres
9)Tony Bernezard-Brewers
10)Gerry Templeton-Reds

We took RF Rupert Jones at #21.We need pitching prospects badly, but there have been few top ones available. My plan is to just stockpile bats in the system and trade them for arms once they develop.

My 2nd round pick was a LF named Alfredo Edmead. I had thought he was a fictional player but I had googled him and he had a single season in A going .314/.329/.429, stole 61 bases and was considered a top prospect for the Pirates. In his 2nd spring training however, he tragically became the youngest pro player to be killed in an on-field accident. See this link....tragic.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/06/18/al...th-daily-cover

“There wasn’t anything that young man at 18 couldn’t do on a baseball field,” says former catcher Sal Butera, a Blue Jays scout who played for the Lynchburg (Va.) Twins that year. “He was probably the best player on the team, and he was very young. If he grew into his full potential, he would have been a major league All-Star for many, many years.”

[Pelican]

Incredibly tragic and moving article. One thing about OOTP is, we can rewrite history. Abolish the color bar in 1920; not 1947. Spare Lou Gehrig from ALS (he is raking in my 1938 season sim). And you have the chance to let Edmead survive and advance. Of course it cannot change the sorrow of his family and Pablo Cruz. But it’s an alternative universe “what if”. Plus, Cruz can get called up to Pittsburgh in my 1971 sim. We’ll see what TCR has to say.

[sharknut]

Originally Posted by Pelican

Incredibly tragic and moving article. One thing about OOTP is, we can rewrite history. Abolish the color bar in 1920; not 1947. Spare Lou Gehrig from ALS (he is raking in my 1938 season sim). And you have the chance to let Edmead survive and advance. Of course it cannot change the sorrow of his family and Pablo Cruz. But it’s an alternative universe “what if”. Plus, Cruz can get called up to Pittsburgh in my 1971 sim. We’ll see what TCR has to say.

Yep, there have been so many players I knew nothing about before running various historical sims.

So far so good for Edmead. I started him off in A ball and he's .387/.418/.597 after a week.

And so far so good for the big club. 9-1 after 10 games. Drawing 19,000 a game at home and Bumbry, Rivers and Wynn are just hitting .215 between them. Torre, Rudy Meoli, Dave Cash and Jim Fregosi have been hitting well and we are 1st in pitching.

Looking forward to this season

[Edster007]

What a tragic story, I am going to be coming up on that draft and will look for him and draft him. One of the things that has made bouncing around history or even random debut is learning about players I have no knowledge of.

[sharknut]

1 month into 1974 and we have the 2nd best record in baseball at 17-6. I am 1st in ERA and hitting well enough to have a 4 game lead. Rudy May has become an ace 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA. Tom Bradley, Tom Walker and William Sheets all have ERA's under 3.00. Gerald Lewis is 2-0 with 6 saves and 0.00 out of the pen.

Offensively, Dave Cash is .356/.398/.425 and leading the league in hitting. Joe Torre is .296/.404/.432, Rudy Meoli is .300/.356/.438 and Jim Wynn is .289/.400/.386 to make up for Mickey Rivers and Al Bumbry each struggling at the plate.

I have stayed healthy and Dan Briggs is close to a call up from AAA. I think Ron Fairly is washed, he is my DH against righties and only hitting .200. I just shopped him and received no offers I would consider. I will ride things out a few more weeks and see where my team levels out. We aren't this good.

[sharknut]

Originally Posted by sharknut

I have stayed healthy and Dan Briggs is close to a call up from AAA.

And within a week I lose Mickey Rivers and Rudy May for a month.

....let's see what Dan Briggs can do

[sharknut]

A little more realistic May had us going 15-13 while battling through the injuries to our #1 and our CF. Rivers will be back this week, Briggs has barely hit .200 but has a couple of HR's, which isn't his game. I was expecting .260 or so with double and triples.

32-19 after 2 months with a 2 game lead is ok by me. Still 1st in pitching despite losing May. Bradley and Walker are still in the top 6 in ERA and Sheets is 5th in WAR, so everyone is picking up the slack.

I dealt Ron Fairly straight up for Donn Clendennon. I took on a little salary and some age to get a little more pop from the DH. 3 HR's in 12 games so far, but has yet to hit his OBP above .300 for us.